Thursday, September 20, 2018

KOLKATA: Defence PSU GRSE Ltd is expecting steady orders well into the next decade with the Navy and Coast Guard aiming at increasing their capacity considerably, its top official said Wednesday.

Chairman and Managing Director of GRSE Rear Admiral (Retd) VK Saxena said that Navy and Coast Guard want to be 200-plus ship forces in the next decade, "keeping in view the threat perceptions in the Indian Ocean and South China Sea."

While the Navy has around 130 ships, the Coast Guard has approximately 110 ships, he said.

"As such, there will be no dearth of orders for GRSE in the foreseeable future," Saxena said.

Stating that GRSE is striving to be in the export front vigorously, he said that the company is in dialogue with countries in South-East Asia, West Asia and Africa.

"They are impressed with our products," he said.

He said that GRSE has manufactured and exported an offshore patrol vessel to Mauritius and is set to bag an order for a 500-odd capacity ferry from Guyana.

GRSE at present has an order book of Rs 20,136.10 crore, of which around Rs 19,000 crore is for three stealth frigates for the Navy, with a revenue visibility till 2025, Saxena said.

"While the first of the three frigates is to be delivered in mid-2023, the third will be handed over by 2025," he said, adding that the company is six months ahead of schedule.

The public sector shipbuilder, which is going to launch an IPO on September 24, is expecting to raise around Rs 340 crores from the market, he said, adding that the amount raised would go to the Government of India.

Saxena said that GRSE, which has a capacity to build 20 ships concurrently, is working on expanding it to 24 ships by 2021-22 by utilising space available at its Rajabagan facility here.